Source: CBSnews.comBy Joel SartoreIt's the 1880s, and my fellow Nebraskan has made a big decision: to spend real money to have his picture taken with his two prized possessions: a 10-gauge shotgun, and the whooping crane he's just killed with it. By 1900, this tallest of North American birds was driven to near-extinction by trophy and meat hunters. And it was not alone. Laws to protect wildlife were scarce, too. So our forbearers pretty much shot and trapped out all they could, everywhere they could, every time they could. The pioneers, like many of us, were greedy.Human nature hasn't changed much since then, but fortunately we now have laws in place to throttle us back. Few are better than the Endangered Species Act.

Forty years ago yesterday -- December 28, 1973 -- Richard Nixon signed the bill, which at the time made us the only nation on Earth to declare a basic right of existence for species other than our own. Without government regulation, unbridled hunting, pollution and development was going to doom much of America's bounty, and lawmakers knew it. So the goal of the Endangered Species Act was kept simple: to keep species from going extinct, no matter the cost. And by and large it's worked. Among the closest of calls were the California condor, the black-footed ferret, and, yes, the whooping crane. Incredibly, all got down to fewer than 25 individuals, yet were pulled back from the very brink of extinction thanks to federal protection.

Some animals have done so well they've actually been taken off the Endangered Species List. The peregrine falcon, bald eagle and American alligator were all in real trouble back when the law was passed in 1973. Now they're commonplace. More....

Yet her long years in captivity at Cincinnati Zoo had seen her elevated to star attraction and feted like an American First Lady, a fitting tribute to a humble bird named in honour of George Washington’s beloved wife.By the time Martha had reached her dotage in 1914, visitors across the US and beyond were making pilgrimages to see her alone on her perch.The offer of a $1,000 reward to find a mate to keep going a species which had once numbered five billion but was wiped out by trapping and shooting went unclaimed.Her death is regarded as the key moment in conservation history: living, and dying, proof of mankind’s ability to wipe out a ­fellow species and the realisation that extinction really is for ever.Martha’s story is told in Lost Animals, published by Blooms- bury, one of a series of projects and books in the New Year marking the centenary of her death and highlighting the spectre of extinction.Just as poignant is Going Going Gone, also by Bloomsbury, which looks at 100 species – some famed, many little known – moving towards the brink because of the pressures of the modern world.To highlight the threats, 100 wildlife conservation groups were asked to choose a species that epitomises their work and the dangers faced. The answers will surprise many.While the mighty African ­elephant, dashing Amur leopard and polar bear might be expected to appear in a list of endangered animals, the wildlife organisations also nominated a vast array of plants, invertebrates and even threatened habitats.The Orangutan Foundation highlights the plight of the great ape of the Sumatran and Bornean rainforests. Logging, mining and clearance for palm oil seriously threaten the flame-coated ape. Today, fewer than 60,000 survive. More....

Source: Earthisland.orgBy Kimberley DelfinoCalifornia is a great example for how to protect threatened species. Forty years ago tomorrow — on December 28, 1973 — President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) into law. This landmark legislation has defined America’s commitment to wildlife conservation ever since. The ESA and other bedrock environmental laws such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts affirm for all Americans that we are a nation dedicated to conserving our natural heritage for future generations — through our national parks and refuges, through clean air and water, and by protecting our wildlife.In the four decades since the ESA’s passage, more than 1,200 plants and animals in the United States have put been under the law’s protection. The act has been essential to a range of conservation success stories. The brown pelican, the American alligator, and the grizzly bear — along with our national symbol, the bald eagle — have all experienced amazing comebacks thanks to the ESA. My home state, California, offers an inspiring example of the ESA in action. The Golden State may be the most populous in the nation — a place more often associated with freeways and traffic jams than with wildlife roaming the forests and deserts — but California is also the location of some of the ESA’s greatest successes. Some of the species that have been protected by the ESA call California home, including the El Segundo blue butterfly and the southern sea otter which are found only in California’s Central Coast and Southern regions, while the humpback whale, green sea turtle, peregrine falcon and bald eagle have ranges across California and its coastline. Such success stories prove that we can protect imperiled species and improve California’s economy and infrastructure at the same time. And they also demonstrate that when we work together to protect our nation’s wildlife and public lands, we reap numerous benefits — tangible and intangible — in the process. People travel from all across the United States and from around the world to visit California’s majestic parks and wildlife refuges — Yosemite, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. Our state’s iconic plants and animals are legendary — towering redwoods, spawning salmon, California condors and desert tortoises.

In California, we’ve proven that we can safeguard endangered plants and animals while simultaneously offering benefits to landowners. More....

The Endangered Species Act is turning 40, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has a lot to be proud of, including past and current efforts to protect plants and animals in New Hampshire.Ahead of Friday's anniversary, the federal agency says New Hampshire provides homes to nearly 15 imperiled species, from the Karner blue butterfly to Jesup's milk-vetch, an extremely rare member of the bean family found only at three sites along a 15-mile stretch of the Connecticut River.On the animal side, efforts are underway across southern New Hampshire to conserve the natural habitat of the region's only native rabbit, the New England cottontail, and the threatened Canada lynx has been confirmed to be breeding in the state.

Source: Statesman.comBy Alex DropkinEvery morning, Sophia eats a handful of grapes and perks up. She stretches her legs and, on good days, takes a lap or two around the artificial forest in her enclosure.Sophia is a two-toed sloth, and the grapes — met with a wet, black nose and long tongue — amount to dessert. Her staples are sweet potatoes, vegetables and monkey chow.The two-toed sloth is endemic to Central and South America. Sophia has lived at Zoo Keeper Exotic Pets in North Austin for 12 years, since being rescued from an owner who had lost interest in her. Sophia has become both a public attraction and an educational tool of sorts, serving as a reminder of the consequences of Texas’ lax — some say absent — regulation of the exotic pet trade.Texas is one of 21 states with no restrictions on private ownership of exotic animals, according to Born Free USA, a national animal advocacy group. The Texas Department of State Health Services oversees statutes on the definition and handling of dangerous animals, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department manages nonnative species in relation to their impact on native plants and animals, but the onus of regulation is left to cities and counties.“That just shows that in Texas, it’s considered not important enough for it to even be handled by the state,” said Lynn Cuny, founder and president of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Kendalia, “and that’s a real tragedy.”Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation receives a dozen or more calls a year to rescue primates, parrots, nonnative reptiles and larger animals from overwhelmed owners. Texas is home to more exotic animals than any other state, according to the Humane Society.“People love the whole idea of having (an animal) in their midst who is novel, who is very unique and who is going to make them look like they’re special,” Cuny said. “It’s a very kind of sick relationship.”Sophia is a star inside the Zoo Keeper store, at the corner of Burnet Road and U.S. 183. It sells exotic birds, snakes, turtles, insects, mammals and other unusual critters. Owner Daniel Keeper said he gets at least one customer asking to buy the sloth every day. But Sophia isn’t for sale. More....

Source: Ipsnews.netBy Amy Fallon It is known as the land of copper to the outside world, but there’s another c-word that does a roaring trade in Zambia, albeit locally – caterpillars. On a street corner in the capital Lusaka on a scorching hot day, Dorothy Chisa, 49, is selling the insects, a popular high-protein delicacy in the southern African country. They come raw in different sized pots starting at five Zambian Kwacha (less than one dollar).“[People\ like them very much. They taste very nice, like fish meat. They have vitamins. You pound them and you make a porridge for babies,” the married mother of seven, who can earn 600 Kwacha a day selling caterpillars, tells IPS. Found on the Mopane tree in Zambia’s north, the insects are called ‘Ifishimu’ in Bemba or ‘Ifinkubala’ in the Chewa language heard in the country’s east. The thorns on the black type are more visible than the brown, which vary in size. After locals pick the living insects from the trees with their bare hands, the creatures are squeezed to discharge the leaves they’ve consumed and put on low heat to roast. In the sweltering Zambian weather, they normally dry within two days. Locals mix them with nshima, a cornmeal dish and a staple in Zambia, as a snack with tomato and onion on top, and add them to stews. One Lusaka restaurant serves the insects, and at least one safari lodge at Victoria Falls, on the border with Zimbabwe, has them available to tempt mzungus (‘whites’). Locals flock to the north from Lusaka and other parts of Zambia to buy them in bulk, selling the caterpillars across the country, all year round. This year, attendance in Northern Province schools dropped by more than 70 percent at one stage as students abandoned their lessons to catch the insects, a Zambian newspaper reported last month.Demand by businessmen and women from urban areas is reported to have pushed up their price, with Kitwe and Lusaka residents camping in villages to snap them up. It was also claimed parents were forcing children to sell caterpillars. More....

Source: News.nationalgeographic.comBy Christine Dell'AmoreM. Sanjayan remembers debating grad school biology classmates about the fate of the California condor back in the 1990s, when the bird was on the brink of extinction.Should the condor, which had almost been wiped out by habitat loss, hunting, and eating carcasses that were poisoned by lead bullets, be left to die in the wild? Or should scientists take the remaining 22 condors into captivity and breed them, which would cost millions of dollars? Sanjayan's view was that humans had a moral responsibility to save North America's largest flying bird. That's exactly what happened: Captive-born condors were reintroduced into the western United States in the early 1990s. There are now more than 200 in California, Arizona, and northern Mexico. On a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, Sanjayan—now the lead scientist at the Nature Conservancy—looked up and spied one of the big black birds soaring above. "That's pretty incredible if you think about it," he says. "They're really out there in the wild now." (See "Banning Lead Ammunition Could Give Condors a Chance.") The condor's recovery shows that endangered species can be brought back from the extreme brink. And there are plenty of other examples.Gray wolves, which by the 1970s were wiped out of most of their North American range due to hunting, have bounced back to more than 3,500, thanks largely to reintroduction efforts. Northern elephant seals, hunted down to fewer than a hundred individuals, now number 150,000 along the West Coast. But with dozens of new species going extinct every day—scientists say that more than 20,000 plants and animals are on the brink of disappearing forever—deciding which species to save is a tricky question. This week, National Geographic will spotlight some of the world's most innovative and unusual efforts to save disappearing species, from the mountains of Tanzania to the plains of Missouri, in a series called "Last of the Last." More....

Source: Telegraph.co.ukBy Henry Samuel Paris police who raided an “exotic foodstore” this week came away with five frozen porcupines, 15 gazelles, 20 bats and an array of caterpillars — all illegally imported from Africa. In all, police carted off 200 lbs of bush meat belonging to the unfortunate animals stored in three freezers in the unnamed shop situated in a run-down part of Paris’ 18th arrondissement. The owner is due to be quizzed by French justice “shortly”. “This meat came with absolutely no hygiene guarantees, and is thus unfit for (human) consumption,” a source close to the inquiry told Le Parisien. It was not immediately clear whether food authorities would have given the food the all clear had the meat made it through hygiene hurdles. “Without knowing the specific species concerned of porcupine, gazelle or bat it is difficult to say whether or not they would be granted an import licence,” said Mark Powell of the UK management body of CITES, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. “But it is highly possible that they would be from animals on the endangered species list therefore it would be illegal to import or sell them,” he told the Telegraph. Investigators have ascertained that all the forbidden food was imported from the Central African Republic, where France has just launched a military operation to prevent spiralling interreligious violence. Ironically, endangered species are on the menu, along with climate change, of trade talks in Paris between more than 500 African and French business leaders on Saturday. They are meeting on the sidelines of a summit on peace and security in the presence of president François Hollande and around 30 African heads of state. More....

Source: Huffingtonpost.comBy Lydia O'ConnorSan Francisco may be the first major city to ban the release of commercially bred butterflies, a popular ceremonial practice at weddings that environmentalists say threatens the species. Local urban lepidopterist Liam O’Brien was one of the environmentalists that called upon San Francisco’s Commission on the Environment to vote the ban into place on Tuesday, though any decision the commission comes to will need to be approved by the Board of Supervisors before it can be written into law. “They are not creatures to be owned. They are not party favors for the human circus,” O’Brien told the San Francisco Examiner. “We all know the exultation of a butterfly release. But it’s really a hellacious relationship to nature.” The proposed resolution identifies a number of adverse effects butterfly releases have on efforts to maintain and the city’s butterfly biodiversity, including the disease and disadvantageous genes farmed butterflies could spread to the wild population if released. “Experts on butterfly conservation have also declared that releases may present problems through the transfer of disease from wild habitats, laboratories or industrial breeding facilities to other colonies, where die-off may result or diseases may weaken wild populations and make them more susceptible to other stressors,” the resolution reads. “Experts state that release of non-native and/or commercially raised butterflies can cause the introduction of deleterious genes into local populations, which could negatively influence the survivorship potential of native butterflies.” “Allowing the sale of butterflies creates a commercial market for butterflies,” said Jeffrey Glassberg, head of the North American Butterfly Association, which supports the ban. “Individual monarchs sell for about $10 each. There have already been reports of individuals capturing monarchs at the California overwintering sites to sell to the public.” The declining monarch is particularly at stake, environmentalists warn. The number of monarchs making their way to their yearly winter refuge in Mexico dropped 59 percent this year, marking the third consecutive year of the species’ decline. More....

Source: AllAfrica.comBy Davie MunkhondyaKasungu Police is keeping in custody 28 Zambian nationals of age range between 17 to 54 for illegally settling into Kasungu National Park, contrary to the Parks and Wildlife Acts Section(s) 32, 33, 35 and 36 of the Republic of Malawi. The illegal settlers were spotted by the parks and wildlife officers for Kasungu National Park on 24th November, 2013 while on patrol to the western border of Zambia and Kasungu National Park. According to Kasungu Police Spokesperson, Edwin Kaunda, when parks officials reached Mtenthe area they discovered that a group of people have settled in the park and were busy cutting down trees with the aim of picking the caterpillars (Matondo). The illegal settlers were arrested on Monday, November 25. "These people were arrested on Monday, 25th November, 2013. When interviewed they told the parks officers that they are Zambians from Traditional Authority (TA) Chanje in Chipata and had been there for some time," explained Kaunda. The 28 Zambian Nationals will appear in court soon to answer different charges ranging from residing in the protected area without permit contrary to Section 32 of the Parks and Wildlife Act, cultivating in the protected area without permit contrary to Section 35and Illegal entry into the protected area contrary to Section 32(1). Furthermore, they are also expected to answer charges of illegal conveyance of weapons contrary to Section 33 and Illegal taking and destruction of trees in the protected area contrary to Section 35(b) of Parks and Wildlife Act.

Source: UK.news.yahoo.com Hippo teeth, walrus horns, tortoises and big cats are among some of the endangered animal items being smuggled into the country, border officials have said. The Home Office has revealed that more items were confiscated between April 2012 and April 2013 than in any other year. Other contraband included rhino horns, £4,000 shawls made of Tibetan antelope wool and books bound in elephant hide. A Rolls Royce upholstered in alligator skin and a piece of artwork featuring a rare £35,000 rock pigeon clutched between the jaws of a human skull were also seized as well as eight live big cats and 466 Hermann's tortoises. Grant Miller, the senior officer on the Border Force CITES team, said: "We have everything from rhino horn to ivory to the taxidermy items and marine species that we see being brought back into the UK, both in passengers' luggage - but more importantly, and in large quantities, through freight." Items are confiscated at the border under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). The 2012/13 year saw 690 items seized - up from 509 the previous year - and included 3,890kg of medicine containing extracts of endangered species, 326 ivory items and 93 live animals. In a secret climate-controlled warehouse, shelves overflow with items waiting for CITES experts to see if they fall under the treaty. Snakeskin and crocodile skin high heels, pinned butterflies, and boxes of health and bodybuilding supplements are piled alongside bags of animal hides and turquoise snakeskin hotpants. More....

Source: Dailymail.co.ukBy Nick Mcdermott, Nick EnochRhino horns, tortoises and big cats, pinned butterflies and boxes of Detonate bodybuilding supplements - these are just some of the items being smuggled into Britain, according to border officials.

On one shelf in a secret warehouse is a tiny stuffed tortoise, looking like a toy; nearby a larger marine turtle imported through Dover as a souvenir, its insides hollowed out.The Home Office has revealed that more items were confiscated between April 2012 and April 2013 than in any other year.

Other contraband included £4,000 shawls made of Tibetan antelope wool and books bound in elephant hide.

Grant Miller, the senior officer on the Border Force team, said: 'We have everything from rhino horn to ivory to the taxidermy items and marine species that we see being brought back into the UK, both in passengers' luggage - but more importantly, and in large quantities, through freight.'Items are confiscated at the border under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

The 2012/13 year saw 690 items seized - up from 509 the previous year - and included 3,890kg of medicine containing extracts of endangered species, 326 ivory items and 93 live animals.

In the climate-controlled warehouse, shelves overflow with items waiting for CITES experts to see if they fall under the treaty.

Jan Sowa, who works with the CITES team, said: 'I'm not surprised by anything any more.' More....

Source: Pressandguide.comBy John Turk, Andrew KiddConservation Scientist Dave Cuthrell fears nearly 10 years he spent studying a nearly endangered butterfly no bigger than a quarter may be coming to a close.

“They’re beautiful little guys that are an important part of the ecosystem,” said Cuthrell of the Poweshiek skipperling butterfly. “But there’s been a really marked population decline in Michigan — only in the last three years ... (and) to be honest, we don’t know why.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is hosting an informational meeting Wednesday night in Holly Township for those with questions about a recent federal proposal to protect two butterflies under the Endangered Species Act. The meeting will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Rose Pioneer Elementary School located at 7110 Milford Rd.

The Poweshiek skipperling, which has been seen darting from flower to flower in Holly, is on the brink of becoming an endangered species with a critical habitat. While there are several theories on why the creature’s population is dwindling — habitat loss and destruction, disease organisms, pesticides and more — Cuthrell, entomologist for Michigan State University Extension in Lansing, said those in the conservation realm can’t come to a consensus.

The small, dark brown and light orange butterfly with a 1-inch wing span used to be prevalent in Michigan and seven other states — as well as Canada — before habitat decline led to the species’ scarcity.

Now, Michigan holds the world’s largest population of the insect — but that’s not saying much, said conservationist Cuthrell. More....

Following an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protected 15 species on the island of Hawaii today under the Endangered Species Act. Thirteen plants, a picture-wing fly and an ultra-rare “anchialine” pool shrimp gained final protection as the result of a 2011 agreement to speed protection decisions for 757 imperiled plants and animals from across the country.

“Part of Hawaii’s beauty is the amazing diversity of life unique to the Aloha state. Endangered Species Act protection will keep these magnificent plants and animals safe for generations to come,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center. The 13 plants being protected include sunflowers, asters and trees with such sonorous names as kookoolau, haha, aku, haiwale and uhiuhi. They are threatened by habitat loss, agriculture, urban development, feral pigs and goats, invasive plants, wildfire, hurricanes and drought. Four of the plants have been identified as the “rarest of the rare” by the Plant Extinction Prevention Program. They each have fewer than 50 individuals surviving in the wild and are in need of immediate action to conserve them. The anchialine pool shrimp lives only on the Big Island and nowhere else in the world; only five individuals of the species have ever been seen. Anchialine pools are land-locked bodies of water that have underground connections to the sea and show tidal fluctuations in water level. The pool shrimp is threatened by degraded water quality due to siltation, which harms the algae, bacteria and small invertebrates it feeds on. Its body is two inches long; it has two-inch antennae and eyestalks, but no eyes. One of the most primitive shrimp species in the world, this intriguing animal can only swim forward, whereas most shrimp can also swim backward.The picture-wing fly was discovered in 1968. Adults are less than a quarter-inch in length and have brownish-yellow bodies, yellow legs and shiny, clear wings with prominent brown spots. More....

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized “critical habitat” protection today for three rare invertebrates in Comal and Hays counties, Texas. The designation protects 169 acres of habitat for the cave-dwelling animals, which include two beetles and a crustacean. The protected habitat includes subsurface areas that scientists have identified as critical to the animals’ survival.

“Protecting aquatic habitat for these tiny animals will help safeguard the special natural history of Texas for generations to come,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. The animals — Comal Springs riffle beetles, Comal Springs dryopid beetles and Peck’s cave amphipods — were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1997, after which the Center and allies filed a series of lawsuits to gain protected habitat for the animals, including subsurface areas. The habitat areas set aside for the animals overlap, consisting of 39 acres of surface habitat and 139 acres of subsurface habitat for the Comal Springs dryopid beetle; 38 surface acres and 138 subsurface acres for the Peck’s cave amphipod; and 54 acres of protected surface habitat for the Comal Springs riffle beetle.

All three of the freshwater invertebrates are found nowhere in the world except four Texas springs, where they are threatened by groundwater pumping from the Edwards Aquifer. Groups that filed suit to gain habitat protection for the species were the Center for Biological Diversity, Citizen’s Alliance for Smart Expansion and Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas.

A new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) finds that the State Department’s review of the Keystone XL pipeline woefully underestimates the impacts it would have on some of America’s most endangered species, including whooping cranes, northern swift foxes, piping plovers, pallid sturgeon, American burying beetles and others. The study found that State Department failed to fully consider the impacts that oil spills, power lines, habitat destruction, construction disturbances and expanded tar sands development in Canada will have on at least 12 endangered animals and plants.

“This is yet another black eye in the Keystone XL debacle. The State Department has utterly failed in its duty to fully disclose—or to reduce—the impacts of this pipeline on some of the rarest animals and plants in this country,” said Noah Greenwald, CBD’s endangered species director. “If this pipeline is approved it will be a disaster for endangered species and other wildlife.” Under the Endangered Species Act, the State Department must ensure the Keystone XL pipeline does not jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species; it must disclose and mitigate any harm to endangered species before giving approval. To meet these requirements the State Department produced a biological assessment that purported to analyze impacts to all endangered species, but concluded that only the American burying beetle would be adversely affected by the pipeline. Based on a careful analysis of other species in the path of the pipeline and their habitat needs, CBD determined that contrary to State’s claim, at least 11 other endangered species will be in danger from the pipeline. More....

Following an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity to speed decisions for protection of 757 imperiled species across the country, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized Endangered Species Act protection today for Nevada’s Mount Charleston blue butterfly. The butterfly occurs in just a few locations at very small numbers and is threatened by fire suppression, fuel reduction activities and recreational development.

“This is great news for one of Nevada’s rarest species. The beautiful Mount Charleston blue butterfly is in desperate need of help and we’ve got to move quickly,” said Rob Mrowka, a Center ecologist based in Nevada. “Even before prime areas of habitat were severely damaged by this summer’s Carpenter 1 wildfire, there were very few of these butterflies left in the world.” The Mount Charleston blue butterfly is limited to upper elevations of Mount Charleston, about 35 miles northwest of Las Vegas in the U.S. Forest Service-managed Spring Mountain National Recreation Area. The butterfly’s habitat — open forests with little understory vegetation and exposed mineral soil — has been threatened by attempts to suppress natural fires that have led to overgrown forests. Specifically the butterfly’s habitat has been hurt in recent years by Forest Service fuel-reduction projects in which small trees and brush were chipped and spread on the ground, covering the butterfly’s host plants. “If the Mount Charleston blue is to have any chance at survival, it will need quick action on the part of the Forest Service to ensure its habitat is maintained and restored,” said Mrowka. “We sure hope that surveys conducted next year will find the survivors needed to rebuild the population. If not, the planet will have lost another valuable strand in its irreplaceable web of life.” The Mount Charleston blue is a distinctive subspecies of the wider-ranging Shasta blue butterfly and was first identified as such in 1928. The butterfly is less than an inch long; males are iridescent blue and gray, while the females are a more subdued brown-gray. Under the settlement agreement with the Center 108 species have been protected so far, including the butterfly, and another 61 have been proposed for protection.

Over 60 years ago Kenya’s first generation of pioneer wardens, Bill Woodley, Peter Jenkins and David Sheldrick, travelled the main Nairobi-Mombasa road to Mtito Andei, then just a dusty dirt road, to begin the daunting task of transforming untouched and largely unexplored and inhospitable arid semi-desert wasteland into the famous National Park that Tsavo is today. It was in those times an unattractive tangle of dense thicket, which was home to thousands of black rhino, un-friendly elephants, which had suffered years of hunting and poaching by humans, and lions that had always had man-eating tendencies, whilst the buffalo were extremely dangerous when encountered at close quarters. Added to this Tsavo was home to a multitude of poisonous snakes, scorpions and other stinging insects, bird eating spiders that leapt up at one if disturbed, not to mention the ever present threat of deadly malaria.

A few early European explorers had ventured through Tsavo and the Taru Desert on their quest to reach the hinterland – men such as the German missionaries, Krapf and Rebmann, who were the first white men to see the snows of Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya in the early l800’s, Lord Lugard who walked up the Sabaki/Galana river (and had his finger bitten by a crocodile at what is now Lugards Falls), Joseph Thompson who arrived some years later, and so graphically described the wilderness to the world and who befriended the Masai, Colonel Patterson who oversaw the laying of the railway line, and who shot the two notorious man-eating lions which devoured almost l00 Indian railway workers. When Tsavo was first gazetted as a Park in l948, the wildlife of the area remained all but invisible until one stumbled upon them at close quarters, following narrow elephant trails that wound through dense Commiphora dominated thicket, sweltering in the intense heat that seemed bent on sucking every morsel of moisture from tired torn human bodies. There were no roads for Tsavo’s pioneer wardens to follow, no aircraft from which to take a look at the challenges that faced them, no hand-held radios to keep in touch with one another and base camp, no telephones or other mod-cons at their disposal – just one vehicle, some old fashioned ex-army tents that did not zip shut, and a haversack to carry their few personal items. Their work-force consisted of a handful of raw labourers armed with only pangas (machetes), jembes (spades) and shovels to carve out the very first tracks leading to who knows where. More....

The beleaguered moose has ambled onto Minnesota’s growing lists of troubled species, while wolves, snapping turtles and eagles — doing better than in past decades — have soared off the lists entirely.The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Monday announced the final versions of newly revised lists of endangered species, threatened species and species of concern, the first major changes in 17 years.Moose are one of 66 animals, reptiles, fish, insects and mollusks added to the lists. The updated list also includes for the first time 114 native plants that botanists say are declining.The DNR took public comments over the winter on its proposals and held a series of meetings across the state to take input on their proposals. A state administrative law judge approved the revisions in April with no major changes from the DNR’s proposal.The moose, which has experienced a dramatically declining population, is listed as an official species of concern.The little brown myotis bat, now facing a devastating attack from white-nose syndrome fungus recently found in Minnesota bat caves, is being added to the list as a species of concern in advance of any major downturn, as is the big brown bat for the same reason. More....

When there’s a tragedy involving an exotic animal, like the strangulation of two New Brunswick boys by an escaped python, ignorance is often at the root, according to a Leduc animal expert.

“Usually, the case of when a bigger snake does get out is, the owner doesn’t realize the strength,” said Doug Klooster, owner of Leduc’s Tamarijn Exotics, which has a collection of tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, reptiles and other animals.

“Like, Crush [Klooster’s boa\, that’s 10 feet, 52 pounds of pure muscle. It can exert a lot of force to break out if it wants to,” he said.

Klooster said pet owners don’t always educate themselves about caring for an exotic animal before making their purchase. Sellers, particularly pet stores, often fail to provide accurate information about the animal or ensure that the buyer fully knows what they’re getting into before making a sale.

“Before you buy, take some time and educate yourself and go to some reliable sources first… you can’t rely on the stores or anybody like that to tell you,” he said.

Klooster said he was once in a pet store when he overheard a staff member tell a shopper interested in buying a Central American boa that the snake would only reach a six-foot length.

“I stepped in and said, ‘no you’re wrong. You need to read. That thing’s going to get 9-12 feet,’” he said. Six months down the road, it’s pushing 6-7 feet, it’s fairly big around and she’s like ‘what do I do with this?’ So now, what happens? It shows up at he SPCA. It goes to the Edmonton Reptile Society or it gets abused or whatever. There’s such poor, poor education in the pet trade as a general thing, it’s terrible.”

Exotic animals in Alberta are regulated by the provincial Wildlife Act. The African rock python, the species responsible for the New Brunswick deaths, is not legal without a permit. Neither are other large or poisonous snake species, crocodiles, alligators, certain poisonous lizards such as Gila monsters and insects that could potentially become invasive species. More....

Scientists believe life appeared on Earth almost four-billion years ago, about half a billion years after our relatively young planet formed. It would be fascinating to see how life arose and managed to hang on. If scientists were to invent time travel to take us back through Earth's history, we'd see little life for most of the four-billion years. Plenty was happening but at a microscopic level as organisms worked out all the intricacies of survival: finding food and energy, evading predators, fighting off disease (even bacteria get virus infections), reproducing and eliminating waste.Once those fundamental details were worked out, more complex cells arose by incorporating other cells within themselves to perform specialized functions like capturing energy from the sun (photosynthesis) or generating energy from stored molecules. The stage was set for the final blossoming of life into forms visible to creatures like us: multicellularity. Once an organism was made up of many cells, a division of labour was possible. Various cells specialized in movement, eating, digestion, excretion, and reproduction. All of this occurred in the last fifth of life's existence as seas and land filled with wondrous animals and plants.It's a magnificent story and we only know the barest outlines. We tend to focus on big life forms like trees, elephants and whales. That’s understandable. They’re often spectacular. But our bias toward the big and impressive overlooks the importance, and beauty, of what are often dismissed as “creepy crawlies”, such as worms, insects, fungi, and bacteria.I was an avid bug collector as a boy. To me, insects were endlessly riveting. Many of them display spectacular colours and patterns and occur in shapes and forms that are far more bizarre and surprising than any Hollywood sci-fi creation. My childhood fascination evolved in college to a focus on heredity in an insect, a common fruit fly, which has revealed so much about genetic principles in humans. More....

Poisonous frogs, long-necked turtles, bears and chimpanzees may not be everyone’s idea of an animal companion, but experts warn that demand for exotic pets is pushing some species closer to extinction.

With high price tags luring criminal gangs, conservationists are calling for increased efforts to crack down on the illegal trade, fueled by the demands of collectors in Europe, the United States and Asia. “The demand for wild animals as pets is increasing and involves a wider range of species than ever before, and as a result the list of species threatened by trade is longer than ever,” said Chris Sheperd of wildlife group Traffic. As part of efforts to reverse the trend, the 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) stepped up protection for dozens of types of turtles and tortoises at a meeting that ended Thursday in Bangkok. They are far from the only victims of this trade. Spiders, snakes, scorpions, beetles, exotic birds, big cats – wildlife protection campaigners have seen it all. More species are involved in the pet trade than in meat and medicine, including highly venomous snakes and even cassowaries – large flightless birds from Papua New Guinea and Australia that can kick and kill you, Shepherd said. “I don’t understand the desire to keep an animal that can kill you, but people do,” he said. More....

Source: News.mongabay.comPoaching is a major threat to endangered lemurs in some parts of Madagascar, but a group has come up with an innovative solution to the problem: replace lemur meat with silkworm pupae, a byproduct of silk production.

The Pupae for Protein (P4P) program, developed by the Madagascar Organization of Silk Workers (SEPALI), aims to address multiple problems for communities around Makira Protected Area in Northeastern Madagascar: poverty, environmental degradation, and lemur poaching. The concept is simple: generate sustainable livelihoods from silk production using native silkworms. Sell the byproduct — silkworm pupae — as a source of protein in communities that already have a tradition of eating insects. The result: incomes improve, less forest is cleared for slash-and-burn agriculture, and lemurs live to see another day.

SEPALI explains:

Insects are a traditional food in Madagascar and are particularly important in rural communities during the lean period. Farmers who produce 4000 cocoons (1 kilo) can provide about 4 kg of protein to their children, the equivalent of one red-ruffed lemur, a highly endangered species previously hunted in the Makira Protected Area from which farmers have been displaced. Edible pupae could provide additional income as well as food. For example, six species of sun-dried Saturniidae larvae sold in Zambian markets in 2003 yielded $52/11.5 kg thereby returning greater profits than other types of agriculture produce.

SEPALI is currently working in a dozen communities. It hopes to introduce the Pupae for Protein soon.

Source: Missinterpreting.comBy Monica SarkarThe tiger trade is one of the largest criminal networks in the world, fetching around $10 billion a year. Comparatively, the cocaine trade is worth $70 billion, placing the two infamous industries on a similar scale. The tiger parts trade is extremely complex and highly sophisticated, making it a tricky trade to understand and eradicate. And the fact that the Chinese government turns a blind eye means it continues to flourish in the background. There used to be over 100,000 tigers roaming freely in the wild by the 20th century. Now, there are around 3,200 left. And counting. The mightiest animal in the jungle is now also the most vulnerable. The reason for the decline? Human(un)kind – please hold your bloody hands up. For centuries, the tiger has been a symbol of power and courage that has captured the imagination of artists and also the greed of the crooked. Historically, tiger hunting was a popular past time among the wealthy British, Indians and Chinese and ‘success’ at the sport was a sign of heroism. As soon as tiger populations became threatened, hunting was banned. But today we destroy tigers’ homes, shoot them dead for their skin to use as wall hangings or hearthrugs, use their teeth and bones for mythical medicine and even their penis as an aphrodisiac. As we procreate, tigers dissipate.Why should we care? Many people fail to understand the welfare of the tiger because they cannot see how it affects humans. But tigers are at the top of the food chain; therefore they keep the numbers of their prey – such as deer, antelopes and gaur – under control.If the tiger becomes extinct, the populations of their prey will spiral out of control and destroy the forests and environment upon which they feed. More....